Book Description

The Rise and Fall of National Test Scores examines, in some depth, the nature of test score changes over an extended period of time and in a broad range of subject matters and levels of schooling. The book contains chapters contributed by experts on various aspects of educational tests and score interpretation and uses. The text discusses the interpretations of trends in college admissions test scores and questions about the post-admission performance of ethnic minority students. The book examines general school achievement trends of high school students and the trends observed in broad-based testing programs of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The complexities involved in obtaining dependable data with which to make informed judgments about reading achievement trends are examined. The text further tackles the positive and negative trends in academic achievement in Science with particular emphasis on the effects of curriculum revision; as well as the problems of mathematics testing. The book then describes test score trends and problems in Great Britain and Ireland, with attention given to the similarities and differences of those countries and the United States. Educators, researchers, political leaders, and informed, interested laymen will find the book invaluable.